be influenced by the passions, the faults and failings common to the humanity of our day. It comes upon us in the nature of a shock to read the heretical expressions of this bold and brilliant Englishman concerning men whom we have been accustomed to look upon as the demigods of our race; but, as Gen. Wade Hampton very truly says, "while we may not in all cases concur with the author's conclusions, we cannot fail to admit the force with which he states them and the fairness with which he gives the authorities upon which they are based." On this point Mr. Greg himself says: "Of my comments and deductions the reader must judge. I hope that I have furnished him with sufficient material for an independent judgment, so far as space and scope allowed. I have given, in general, not the authorities on which I have most relied, but those most accessible, and, above all, those which, as the reluctant admissions of hostile witnesses, are finally conclusive.” I would that space permitted me to give here some extracts from that part of the work under consideration which most nearly concerns the people of the South-the part which treats of "the causes which led up to the late war, the war itself, and events occurring since then." To what has already been said on that point let it be sufficient to add that we have in this book not the "lifeless, dry and statistical history" deprecated by The Times-Democrat, but one that depicts the story of that war with a dramatic power that stirs the blood, and vindicates the moral and constitutional rightfulness of our dead and buried cause with argument unanswerable and with a majestic strength that will command for all time to come the admiring attention of mankind. Greg's History of the United States was first published in England six years ago. The fact that it has not till now been brought to the knowledge and placed within reach of the American people is explained by the statement that a wealthy New Englander bought up all the copies he could get that found their way to this country and withdrew them from circulation, and no Northern house would republish or keep it. But "truth crushed to earth will rise again," and Greg's history, destined to immortality, was rescued from the oblivion in which unfriendly and malignant hands would bury it. Notwithstanding the attempted suppression, Prof. Dabney, professor of history in the University of Virginia, after long and persistent effort, finally succeeded in getting hold of a few copies, and at his instance a Southern house has published an American edition, to which Gen. Wade Hampton has written an introduction. GEN. HAMPTON SAYS: "The American publishers of this remarkable work have conferred a benefit upon the reading public of this country by placing it within the reach of all thoughtful students of American history who desire to learn the truth unobscured by sectionalism or par * * tisanship. To the Southern people the book is of inestimable value, for it contains not only a vindication of the South, but it bears noble testimony to the devotion, the patriotism and the heroism of its citizens. It is fortunate for us that a disinterested foreign writer of established reputation has come to our rescue, vindicating alike our cause and our conduct, as this work of Greg has done, fully and conclusively. Every true man in the South who followed the starry cross in its brief but glorious career; every one who feels a pride in the achievements of our Southland in the past, or who wishes to see our people vindicated, should read Greg's History of the United States." Such is the book that, in the fulness of time, has come to us from the land of Shakespeare and Milton -the land of Havelock and Nelson, of Hampden, Pym and Sidney. Such is the book of which Prof. Dabney, in a letter now before me, says: "Let us hope that many thousands of copies may soon be distributed through our well-beloved and much-maligned Southland.' Breathes there a son or a daughter of that Southland with soul so dead as not to share this hope? I need not ask if the words of that true and loyal Virginian and Southerner do not strike a responsive chord in the heart of every survivor of those fast |